Razorback

Posted by lima39 on January 6th, 2012

There are rebels without causes, and mechs without purposes. The Razorback is one of the latter. In the crowded field of light mechs, it is hardly distinguishable. It’s reliance on ammo resupplies for its weapons keep it closely tethered to home base or supply lines, making it is unsuitable for deep reconnaissance missions which other light mechs excel at. It is also lacks the firepower to handle hit and run missions. It excels at nothing, except perhaps to engage with other light mechs or unarmored infantry, where its ER medium laser, SRM4 launchers, and machine guns can do some damage. It doesn’t have any recognized purpose other than to fill up the ranks of depleted Inner Sphere mech units.

The Razorback is not a terrible mech. It is a solid light mech design with no serious deficiencies. Its capabilities, armor, firepower, and speed are no worse than any other light mech. However, in the Battletech universe, average often equals obscurity. Unless a mech with average stats is a venerable design and has been around for such a long time that everyone knows and understands it strengths and weaknesses, an average mech is going to get lost in the crowd. Let’s use autos as an example. The classic VW Beetle has average to bad stats. However, it is an iconic design and has been around forever. Its weaknesses are well known, yet it continues to be used around the world even to this day because drivers have come to appreciate it even though better alternatives such as the Ford Fiesta have become available. The Razorback is like the Ford Fiesta, a capable design that holds it own against similar vehicles but unlikely to gain cult status.

Primus designed the featured Lego model of the Razorback. Everything I wrote about the Razorback as a battle mech can also be attributed to the Razorback as a model. Everything is good overall, and there are no serious issues to deal with in building it, but the model is no standout, either. The light mech category is way overpopulated, so model of one should be very distinguished to get notice. I’ve already written that the [intlink id="1938" type="post"]Puma[/intlink] is my favorite light mech model so far, and I haven’t changed my mind. There are photos of these two mechs side by side to compare so you can make up your own minds.